Reggae Boyz head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is firmly of the view that his team did not deserve to lose Saturday’s friendly international against Trinidad and Tobago.
The game, the first of two which was played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall in St James, resulted in the twin-isle republic coming away with a 1-0 result courtesy of a Reon Moore left-footed strike in the 67th minute.
Heimir Hallgrimsson, in his first match on home soil, took the result in stride, even as he rued missed chances and overpassing.
“You never want to lose a game, you always feel sad losing, that is all coaches like to win matches, but to play the first game here I thought we didn’t deserve to lose it if you look at the chances,” he told reporters at game’s end.
“We can improve a lot of things but some positive things I will take from this game … we created a lot of chances, we created a lot of positions where we should have created better, but sometimes we played too much instead of shoot or cross, we were just over passing,” Heimir Hallgrimsson continued.
Some of the positive things he highlighted include the fact that a number of players were participating in their first international match which he believes will “go into that experience bank”; he employed 17 players in the match.
The second game will be played on Tuesday evening at the National Stadium in Kingston at seven o’clock.
The Icelander lamented the soft nature in which his team conceded, noting that, “this was their first attack in the second half and we had created both at the end of the first half and in the beginning of the second half. We had created a lot of chances and just one moment and they are one up and from there it was more panic than quality”.
He added: “They have been training as a national team and you could see that they had a plan and they stuck to the plan (long balls over the top), so they were more synchronized than we are but I think in the end it showed that they got cramped a lot so they needed changes because they were fatigued and that is because they don’t have this playing rhythm that our team has.”
But despite the loss, the Jamaican coach is reluctant to change his long term plan, just for the cause of victory.
“That’s the purpose of these games to give the future players a chance. Some will grab the chance, some will maybe not play so good but it doesn’t mean that they have lost their chance in the future, but if not now in a friendly at home in front of the families of these players then when should we play them, so it’s just a part of the process.
“I think Jamaica has a lot of talented players but they need time to play at an international stage, they need games like these and we are going to give them that chance, so that’s part of our plan going forward.”
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s head coach, former national player Angus Eve was ecstatic with the result for his rebuilding side.
“For us to come here and grind out a victory is tremendous. Trinidad and Tobago football has been in the doldrums, and Jamaica is like 50 spots ahead of us. To get this victory against a good outfit with some experienced players, some in Europe and a world-class coach we are really happy to be able to compete with these types of guys,” he said.
